Courtesy of Doug Short
With the exception of the S&P 500, the world markets in this series all had a third consecutive week of gains, with the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite leading the advance. The momentum of the rally in major world markets, however, has been declining, as this side-by-side comparison illustrates.
The chart below illustrates the comparative performance of World Markets since March 9, 2009. The start date is arbitrary: The S&P 500 and Bombay SENSEX hit their lows on March 9th, the Nikkei 225 on March 10th, the DAX on March 6th, the FTSE on March 3rd, the Shanghai Composite on November 4, 2008, and the Hang Seng even earlier on October 27, 2008. However, by aligning on the same day and measuring the percent change, we get a better sense of the relative performance than if we align the lows.
A Longer Look Back
Here is the same chart starting from the turn of 21st century. The relative over-performance of the emerging markets (Shanghai, Bombay, Hang Seng) is readily apparent. However the pattern has been less apparent over the past few months.
